Philip Hobbs - five-time winning trainer of the Unibet Persian War Novice Hurdle - will look to enhance his record in the Grade 2 contest at Chepstow on Friday with hurdles debutant Everglow.
The Phil Munnelly owned five-year-old was placed in two bumpers last season including a second at this meeting 12 months ago.
Hobbs said: "Everglow has only run in two bumpers and although he hasn’t won they have ended up being hot bumpers, particularly when he ran at Cheltenham.
"He is a very nice horse for the future, whether he is good enough for the Unibet Persian War I do not know, but we can start there and then reassess.
“Two and a half miles on a galloping track will suit him. He is a big strong horse who would want softer ground."
Hobbs won the race last year with Thyme Hill, who went on to finish a close-up fourth in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, and is set to remain over hurdles this season.
Hobbs said: "We thought long and hard about going novice chasing and he has schooled very well over fences, but we don’t think it is a disadvantage having another year over hurdles.
"He doesn’t have to improve very much to have a decent chance in the Stayers' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival next March, so we are going to take that route. He will probably have his first run at Wetherby in the West Yorkshire Hurdle and then we will go from there."
Hobbs also gave an update on stable star Defi Du Seuil, winner of the Tingle Creek and Clarence House Chase last season.
"Defi Du Seuil is in great nick everything has gone well with him. I would imagine that we will be taking the same route as last year and starting with the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham at the end of November.
"We are going to stick over two miles for the time being, but it would be no problem going further. He won the Triumph Hurdle and nearly all horses who do that want three miles. He has won at the Cheltenham Festival over two and a half miles and I am sure he goes three miles but he is obviously very good over two, so we are going to do that for the time being."
Hobbs also gave an update on some of his other runners at Chepstow this weekend.
Strong Pursuit (Professor Caroline Tisdall Supports Heroic Jumpers Veterans' Handicap Chase, Friday)
"Strong Pursuit is a grand old horse and he is in very good form at the moment. He has had a few issues, like a lot of older horses have, but he seems in good form now so I would hope that he would have a decent chance. The extra break has probably been a benefit to him, he had a couple of months on the walker in the spring to get weight on him before he went out to grass and we have started in a better place."
Garde La Victoire (John Ayres Memorial Handicap Chase, Saturday)
"Garde La Victoire should be in a veterans chase as well, because he is eleven, but he can’t because he doesn’t want three miles. The two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase on Saturday should suit him well and he seems in very good form. I hope he is ready to go first time out, but he is a big burly horse who may just need the run."
Flinck (Wasdell Group Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle, Saturday)
"Flinck has been an improver over the last couple of years and he won twice last season. Before he goes chasing, I think he could win a decent handicap hurdle. The two-and-a-half-mile handicap on Saturday should suit him well. It is race we have had in mind for a while, I’d hope he would have a strong each-way chance."
